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Mountain Dogs: At it Again

I, we and they are at it again. “I” meaning I’m finally back to this blog. “We” meaning Rockin Roy and I took the Sundogs to one of their favorite places in the world. And “they” meaning the Sundogs doing what they do best. Strutting their stuff at Tahoe in the Truckee River. This year Sasha is a whole year older and becoming quite the competition for the Yolo the “king” of our retrievers. As you can see above Sasha has the upper hand with the BIG stick. Yolo clings to about one inch of it. I don’t know who found the BIG stick but they really scored. They found a LONG stick too since the BIG stick is a bit heavy to retrieve every time.

Here is the LONG stick. Can you see the way Sasha grabbed the end next to Yolo? That is her strategy for knocking him off the stick so she can get back to shore solely with the stick in her possession.

It is time to throw the BIG stick again. Dropping the BIG stick at one’s feet is how it’s done.

Grabbing the BIG stick without getting your hand stepped on or mauled is a good thing too.Keeping your eye on the stick while it is being thrown is a good thing if you want to get to it first.

This time Yolo gets a better grip but Maisie is out of the running completely.

“Today is just not my day” says Maise.

Yolo and Sasha make it back to shore AGAIN after I don’t know how may retrieves. “We have to live up to our name mom”.

Meanwhile Mr. Lassen our noncompetitive Sundog strolls on the beach.

And rolls in the course mountain grass scratching his back. Who needs to fight for the stick?

Nevada wants to fight for the BIG stick just once at least.

But Sasha and Yolo joined at the shoulders are not letting anyone else in on their rivalry.

Guess who eventually wins out? Hopefully Sasha retains all her teeth after proudly prancing around on the beach with the BIG stick.

And since 20 retrieves is not enough they have to go for one more plunge.

“Boy that one really got me wet all over. Getting the water out of ones ears is important”.

Last return after at least 21 throws. It’s time to dry off don’t you think?

Sasha says no way. I am in perfect form and peak performance.

I’ll just take this BIG stick into the river on my own.

After a few tries on her own Sasha agrees to do her dry off dance on the beach.

Soon we vanish into the forest and let the warm mountain sun dry wet paws and pants.

The dreaded leashing up for the walk home.

“We get to be leashless while we dry off some more in the sun”. The truck is another favorite place of the Sundogs because it takes them to their favorite places.

Time to close the tailgate for the trip home. Yolo contemplates how far to the ground just in case the need for escape.

Once home the couch rules. Rockin Roy is exhausted from throwing the BIG stick and and Maisie contemplates how to get back her groove as the top retriever. “Boy swimming against the river current really wears me out these days”.

Such beautiful photos. Each one is so wonderful that I cannot pick a favorite. It looks like everyone had such a good day. I absolutely love finding sticks–big, small, and long–in my back yard. I think my love of sticks alone could make me an honorary Sundog. 🙂